I had a great day today, and I just wanted to say thanks to everyone on here for the advice and support. To be honest I wasn't sure if the whole EMF thing was working, since hunger suppression hadn't really kicked in and I was eating more calories than I had been before. But I weighed myself on Sunday, and in 9 days I lost ~4.5 pounds. As someone who was relatively lean to begin with (and who wasn't even being that strict on macros), that's amazing! Today I was lifting heavier than I have been in a little bit, and I hit a new PR--for the first time ever, I was able to dead-lift more than my body weight (2 lbs more, but still)!! And I've always had upper body strength issues, but I found today I was able to do 4 reps of 90% of a real push-up--forehead touched the ground instead of chest. Totally made my day, so again, thanks to all of you!

I had a great day today, and I just wanted to say thanks to everyone on here for the advice and support. To be honest I wasn't sure if the whole EMF thing was working, since hunger suppression hadn't really kicked in and I was eating more calories than I had been before. But I weighed myself on Sunday, and in 9 days I lost ~4.5 pounds. As someone who was relatively lean to begin with (and who wasn't even being that strict on macros), that's amazing! Today I was lifting heavier than I have been in a little bit, and I hit a new PR--for the first time ever, I was able to dead-lift more than my body weight (2 lbs more, but still)!! And I've always had upper body strength issues, but I found today I was able to do 4 reps of 90% of a real push-up--forehead touched the ground instead of chest. Totally made my day, so again, thanks to all of you!

Sorry, I wasn't clear. My appetite is feeling very suppressed, so I'm struggling to eat enough to hit my calorie total. Even with fat. So what does being in deep NK/appetite suppression do to the BMR requirements? Is the body automatically making up the difference with increased fat burning for energy requirements?

Sorry this is a bit late - Time Zone issues

If I eat at my supposed BMR I don’t lose weight (I am a bit wary of BMR calculations anyway as I have never found two the same – sorry Pebbles). I am on the 2nd week of my current n=1 (which is working brilliantly so far) and this time have gone for low calorie & low protein numbers. I am tracking my BF% & LBM. If my LBM loss > 25% of my total loss for the week I will up the protein. Last week it was dead on. This week so far it’s a 1/10th. After 4 weeks I will raise my cals by 50 every 2-4 weeks & see what happens. I'm hoping that by upping the cals slowly over time, the weight will continue to drop (all be it at a slower pace) but the body will be able to get used to accepting higher calories without gaining.
NB: I am also tracking my cals to the nth degree. Every day last week, the weight went down except on Sunday, I ate an extra 100 cals to get the weekly average right – and gained slightly. On Monday I went back to my intended calories, lost the gain & then some.

Some believe that you can follow the lack of hunger and lower your calories significantly, but the people who have been successful long term in NK have kept their calories up to at least their BMR. I believe "starvation mode" exists no matter what eating plan you are following, especially for women. I believe eating two few calories long term will eventually lead to stalls if not binge behavior as your body begins demanding nutrition. That's my 2 cents.

I've read something recently about starvation mode. It said the body will burn fat before it burns muscle as that is the way it is designed - it needs the muscle to move around but the fat is stored as future energy. It is only when you get down to really low (single figures) BF% that the body enter starvation mode & the muscle is used as the body needs a certain % of essential fat to survive. This seems to make more sense to me than CW

I've read something recently about starvation mode. It said the body will burn fat before it burns muscle as that is the way it is designed - it needs the muscle to move around but the fat is stored as future energy. It is only when you get down to really low (single figures) BF% that the body enter starvation mode & the muscle is used as the body needs a certain % of essential fat to survive. This seems to make more sense to me than CW

Like I said different people have different opinions on the topic of BMR and calories. Paleobird, the originator of EMF on MDA, believes you should only eat to satisfy hunger. As a binger, I have found that I can avoid binges by making sure my body has all it needs. I eat around 1700 calories, and am always hungry when meal times come around. Yes true starvation mode takes a while to get to, but the precursors (cravings and food obsessing) are what get me into trouble.

***I still advise newbies to start with the calorie level that comes with the formula in the first post of this thread, then lower calories later if needed.

A note on BMR calculations...Different sites have always been within 50 calories of each other and I figure my TDEE (BMR + exercise) at light activity even though I am usually moderate. I have a Go Wear Fit device that measures the actual calories I burn. The device comes out with numbers in line with BMR + activity. For me it is accurate enough.